Well Prepared

Well Prepared

The most expensive blank card in the game, following the recent ruling on Lonnie Ritter we can now undeniably say that this card is blank, since your choice of an asset MUST affect the asset in a game state sense that is impossible to achieve with this card.

The serious point here is either the FAQ needs to be larger or smaller, half answers to rules questions are worse than just stating rules should be followed consistently by each player, the actual minutia of what is technically legal is IMO less important than just ruling all interaction the same way for your playgroup. (but if they want to go the MTG route and have a rule book the size of a dictionary that would at least solve ambiguity, just not the path I'd choose)

What about the card above, well if it isn't just a blank card then it's pretty amazing, try it with a chainsaw or big gun and have fun wrecking everything's face.

Sidenote: most story assets have absurd icons, so if someones well prepared they also might be the best guard for any story allies you want to keep nice and safe.

Zerogrim · 295
I don't think this conclusion is correct. For Lonnie, you have to choose a target for which the resolution can be completed (ie it has to have a horror on it in order to heal a horror). For Well Prepared, any asset is a viable target because there is no required resolution (other than, I guess, it having some icons on it) — acotgreave · 887
Gotta agree with @acotgreave here, especially since that interpretation allows things to, y'know, work. — SGPrometheus · 847
Yeah as far as I know that game state rule only applies to things that could affect the game state. If it can, it has to. This can't under any circumstance so that rule doesn't apply- it just works. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
This review really belongs on Lonnie, but Zerogrim is right by RAW (see her FAQ for the reasoning why). However, since this is obviously silly, they should probably just change the rule to say a target is valid if it would modify the game state overall, instead of requiring the target's state to be modified, and then putting errata on Lonnie. — Hylianpuffball · 29
The first three comments are right in that that is how any sensible person should play the game, and wrong in that it is unambiguously not what the rules of AH:TCG as they currently stand say; which IS the first part of Zerogrim's point. He's saying: since we still need to subjectively interpret the rules, all the pernickety rulings and details aren’t as helpful as they should be. I’m not sure I agree that it would be best for the game to shrink the FAQ, but I certainly see where Zerogrim’s coming from. -- Also, with noting that Mitch Brown and Foolishness have excellent ?? icons. — Spritz · 69
Disagree. The rules also say that the text on the card can contradict the text in the rules reference guide. This text chooses a target and never changes that target's state, so it contradicts and overrides the RRG. Lonnie chooses a target and attempts to heal a damage from it, and therefore doesn't contradict the RRG, and doesn't override the conventional choosing a target rule — NarkasisBroon · 11
Yea these little nitpicky interpretation are at the end of the day just kinda worthless wastes of time, that's kind of my whole point. The rules state that contradictions are handled by the cards trumping the rules but well prepared doesn't contradict the rules, it simply requires you to ignore the rule to function, a contradiction would be a card that allows you to discard weaknesses from your hand. (even though that is against the rules in normal situations) — Zerogrim · 295
You can't exhaust "Well Prepared" if you don't controll an asset with matching icons to the current test. But if you do, you have a valid target. The triggered ablity targets a skill test. And for that, the game state is clearly altered if you activate the card. It's a very different case than with Lonnie, who can't heal damage from a card without damage. This review is rubbish. — Susumu · 381
The rules about "targeting" make it clear that it's the object of the verb "choose" that's the "target" of the card, though. When a card says "this skill test" it isn't establishing a target, it's establishing a duration. — Thatwasademo · 58
I think the actual problem with this analysis is what "changing the target's game state" means. Obviously moving a card to another zone, placing tokens on it, or rotating it (either exhaustwise or facewise) is changing its state, but you could also argue that making a change to parts of the game state not otherwise obviously associated with a card, *based on the target's characteristics*, also counts? Under that definition, the set of legal targets for Well Prepared's triggered ability is nonzero but also not everything -- it's those assets, and only those assets, which have at least one matching skill icon. — Thatwasademo · 58
Of course, that would true in this case anyway even without the targeting rules, since adding to your skill value is the only effect of the ability, and you can't trigger an ability that doesn't change the game state at all even if it doesn't target. But say you added text like "and place one resource token on Well Prepared, as a charge" to the ability. — Thatwasademo · 58
One could argue that the Golden Rule allows Well Prepared to function in spite of the targeting rule — and likewise for other cards which don't "affect" the card they "target", such as Call of the Unknown, Eavesdrop, Interrogate, Knowledge is Power, Esoteric Atlas (unless moving to a location is considered to "affect" it), Sixth Sense (unless investigating as if at a location is considered to "affect" it), Pendant of the Queen (unless any of those effects are considered to affect the location?), Followed (unless suppressing AoO "affects" an enemy), Otherworld Codex, Lucid Dreaming, Trish Scarborough's elder sign effect, Dynamite Blast. — Yenreb · 15
But that's a pretty long list of cards to lean on a rule that shouldn't be used so heavily to overwrite another rule that's so specific to a keyword which, if the cards "tried" to "affect" their targets, clearly would apply (and thus the Golden Rule wouldn't). — Yenreb · 15
While it is only implied, the rule talks about abilities, that affect their target. It is common sense, that if an ability isn't supposed to affect it's target, it is not required to change it's game state. — Adny · 1
Yeah, I think the response on Lonnie is just clumsily worded. It probably means "if the resolution of that ability's effect [would apply an effect but] could not change the target's state"; I suspect they'll release a clarification when they update the official FAQ. — pneuma08 · 26

Pushed into the Beyond

Pushed into the Beyond

This is more of a question than a point but Solemn Vow explicitly says it is played under the control of another investigator. So plausibly I can target it with this card, shuffle it into my deck, draw it and play it under the control of same investigator who owns it. Also, unless I'm also running Solemn Vow in my own deck it's probably the best target...

Artemysterious · 3
I don't think you can shuffle a card you don't own into your deck. Or at least, you can't shuffle in a card another player owns. I don't think you can choose it as a target, because nothing would happen. — SGPrometheus · 847
You can choose it as a target. See Ownership and Control in the RRG which says "If a card would enter an out-of-play area that does not belong to the card's owner, the card is physically placed in its owner's equivalent out-of-play area instead. The card is considered to have entered its controller's out-of-play area, and only the physical placement of the card is adjusted.". So you shuffle it into its owners deck, and discard the top 3 cards of your deck. Assuming you don't also have solemn vow in your deck you cannot take 2 horror — NarkasisBroon · 11
Pretty sweet. — SGPrometheus · 847
It is worth pointing out that per that section as quoted, the OP is (slightly) wrong about what happens -- Yes, you can target the Solemn Vow, but no, you don't shuffle it into your deck, you shuffle it into its owners deck (and the rest of Pushed Into the Beyond treats it as though you shuffled it into your deck). — Thatwasademo · 58
(That is to say, NarkasisBroon is entirely correct, but I briefly misread their post as saying the OP was correct and thought others might also) — Thatwasademo · 58

Manual Dexterity

Manual Dexterity

After so many years, let's discuss a very important point :-)

Is Trish Scarborough being pictured here?

I would say so: in which case we waited for almost 5 years before finding her! I really love the interconnections and contextual references of this game. It really adds to the narrative and immersive experience.

Lord Phrank · 76
The Arkham Horror files universe existed and was pretty fleshed out before this game even started. I think the only investigators in this game that didn't already exist when the core set first released were Stella, Nathaniel, and Wini IIRC??? Im pretty certain that every investigator released before the starter decks already existed before this game was even announced. — NarkasisBroon · 11
Nope, Sefina was new to the game at her release. She was later added to Eldritch Horror. — bricklebrite · 533
Noice. TIL — NarkasisBroon · 11
Also - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong - I believe that Calvin and Daniela had not yet been featured in an Arkham files game at the time of the Core Set release. — bricklebrite · 533
Preston Fairmont, Agatha Crane, Carson Sinclair, and Daniela Reyes were also released specific to Eldritch Horror. I'm really hoping we see Carson Sinclair in AH:LCG at some point. — Pinchers · 132
Calvin was the only promo investigator for 2nd Edition Arkham Horror. He had existed for years in the Arkham Files, but basically nobody actually had a copy. Also, at least some of the post 2nd Ed. AH new investigators actually first showed up in the Investigators of Arkham Horror book of short stories, including Agatha Crane and Father Mateo iirc. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
Calvin was an Ally card in Elder Sign* I believe (*probably not the base game). When they added his investigator card in the last expansion they instructed you to take out the Ally. — Yenreb · 15

Eldritch Inspiration

Eldritch Inspiration

Mystic investigator cards are cards. So when you resolve the Elder Sign effect on your Mystic investigator card, Eldritch Inspiration can double its effect (or In Jacqueline's case, ignore it to draw a card, though that seems a waste).

Edit: probably doesn't work.

suika · 9511
I literally do not understand this card at all. Or rather, what differentiates it from it's lvl 0 version. I guess you can use it on your investigator card? Father Mateo could make great use of it, but he can only use his ability once per game. — LaRoix · 1646
@LaRoix The difference is that the upgraded version can react to any token; I can't think of any effects that would react to the number tokens, but it can get elder sign, bless and curse reactions, all of which the level 0 version would miss. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
It seems like it pretty much extends the card to Jacqueline's starter decks's "if you reveal a nice token cards", the In Too Deep suite of spells that key off blessings and curses and elder sign effects? Plus maybe Recall the Future? That would work, I think. So I think , leaving aside the weird corner cases, if you're building around Jacqueline's spell suite or the In Too Deep curse suite then it's a meaningful upgrade. But it's hard to really evaluate it without knowing what bless/curse mystic cards turn up in the future. It seems like a card that will either see more use as more and more compatible cards get released or disappear if they don't .... — bee123 · 31
With Favor of the Sun/Moon just spoiled, enabling guaranteed bless/curse draws, respectively, this gets pretty strong with the curse spells. — SGPrometheus · 847
Father Mateo can chuck Seal of the Elder Sign and this to get two extra actions and a guaranteed success on demand, though it's more situational for other investigators: Akachi won't say no to an emergency recharge in a pinch, nor Diana to playing more cancels, or Luke to more Gate Box charges. — suika · 9511

Teachings of the Order

Teachings of the Order

Yes, the fact that it's a permanent tome that doesn't take up a hand slot is good for regular Daisy, and awesome for parallel Daisy. I also have a question for the community about how this works in the Daisy one-off "Read or Die."

The set-up instructions for "Read or Die" have you "Remove each non-weakness tome asset from Daisy Walker's deck" -- which would include Teachings of the Order. Then you are supposed to put those tomes under locations. In the scenario, you can pay clues to shuffle these assets (without looking at them) into your deck. The goal is to draw and play as many as you can in order to defeat the Namer of the Dead and earn xp. But what happens when you draw Teachings of the Order? The possibility of drawing a "Permanent" card is something we have not seen in Arkham. Obviously you can't play the dern thing -- it has no cost, not even a zero. Would the "Permanent" keyword that normally makes the card "start each game in play" leap into effect belatedly, putting the Teachings into play as soon as you draw it? I don't think so... My reading is that the Teachings would simply be stranded in your hand -- unplayable, undiscardable -- though I suppose you could trigger one of its abilities from your hand with Knowledge is Power... Technically the rules don't forbid drawing a permanent asset, having it in your hand, or shuffling it into your deck (you just can't shuffle it into the deck "during setup"). The conditions for doing any of those things just haven't existed until now.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this fascinating conundrum?

Hang on! I edit my review to suggest a solution. If Daisy were to take Versatile and Sleight of Hand, she could sling the Teachings into play for a single turn, no? Long enough to Parley the Namer and finish the scenario! Problem solved...? Although, dangit, the taboo'd Sleight of Hand requires the item to be level 0-3, and the Teachings have no level at all...

Mordenlordgrandison · 464
The rules under permanent also say permanent cards can't be shuffled into the deck during the scenario , right? So you can't shuffle it in that way. FWIW, I think what happens here is that because investigator set-up happens before scenario set-up (and permanents have to enter play in investigator set-up or Studious , Another Day Another Dollar and Stick to the Plan wouldn't work), the Teachings are already in play when Read or Die set-up tells you to remove them and since permanent cards can't leave play they just stay there. It gives you a lucky break for playing Read or Die in the second half of the Innsmouth conspiracy and doing a good job on In Too Deep, I guess , but there are several ways specific story cards can do that sort of thing. If you're interested in weird rules curiosities, a specific permanent unique item can produce a similar situation in a specific scenario whose set-up interacts with unique items. — bee123 · 31
Is there a source for a blanket ruling that “permanent cards can’t leave play”? From what I’ve seen, Matt has been quite careful to only rule against specific methods by which they might do so. — Tamsk · 1
The FAQ says this under Rulebook errata - (v1.1) Rules Reference page 16, column 2, “Permanent” The fourth bullet point should read: “A card with the permanent keyword cannot leave play (except by elimination).” I think that's pretty unambiguous, right? — bee123 · 31
The official rules only say permanents can't be shuffled into the deck "during setup" -- shuffling. Also, the tomes are explicitly removed dyring the "Investigator setup" phase. But maybe you could still say that the permanents enter play at an earlier point in the investigator phase? them at other times isn't mentioned. And are — Mordenlordgrandison · 464
@bee So it does, my apologies. For some reason, the arkhamdb copy of the RR hasn’t been edited to reflect that erratum, though it has others. — Tamsk · 1
@bee123, I think I've come around to your view. Step 4 of Appendix III (Setting up the Game) is to "Assemble and shuffle the investigator decks." At that point, the permanents would have to enter play, because you can't shuffle them in. And the instruction in "Read or Die" to "Remove all tomes" from your deck obviously can't be done until your deck is assembled. This rule gives no window between the deck being assembled and the deck being shuffled, during which the permanents could potentially be plucked out. — Mordenlordgrandison · 464